Owlett-Jaton boosts turnover for Kellaway

Bristol-based builders’ merchant Kellaway Building Supplies has consolidated its entire fastener and fixings range to Owlett-Jaton, doubling turnover of this product range over the last 12 months.

Purchasing director Bob Fleetwood explained: “Previously we were buying our fasteners and fixings from a number of suppliers, but we were finding that as more third parties were chosen for this product range, we were invariably buying too many things from too many different suppliers. We wanted to work with Owlett-Jaton in finding a solution that would identify and eliminate the causes of waste, expense and risk.”

Owlett-Jaton has been working with Kellaway for around 10 years and was therefore well placed to understand the vital requirements of the business. Andy Connor, national commercial manager at Owlett-Jaton, helped Mr Fleetwood to identify a core range of fasteners and fixings and streamline the procurement process. This model was then gradually rolled out across the rest of the business.

This has reduced purchase costs for Kellaway as well as procurement and supplier management costs, increased procurement process efficiency overall and subsequently doubled turnover for the fasteners and fixings portfolio.

Headquartered in Stone, Owlett-Jaton’s 150,000sq ft warehouse has vast storage capacity. In addition to this, the company recently invested £250,000 into a warehouse picking system, which enables orders to be picked both reliably and cost-effectively. Instructions are given through the headset to the operator, informing him of which location to go to, the quantity to pick, the weight, and box quantity. The operator confirms each instruction by voice, as well as the last four digits of the bar code. The system then informs the operator which location to go to next, and the process repeats.

Mr Connor added: “The great thing about Owlett-Jaton, and its five sister companies in the Hexstone Group, is that customers across the board can treat our warehouses as their own. The new picking system in particular ensures that we also have product available for customers should they require it last-minute.

“When Kellaway approached us for guidance we were more than happy to work with them to help ensure that they were only stocking the products their customers needed, and it’s great to see the financial benefits it has provided for the business.”